Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro is the second-most populous municipality and metropolitan area in Brazil and the capital of the State of Rio de Janeiro. The city, whose name means "River of January", was founded by Portuguese settlers in 1565. In 1763, it became the capital of the State of Brazil, a state of the Portuguese Empire, and, from 1808 to 1822, Rio de Janeiro served as the empire's capital due to the exile of the Portuguese royal court during the Peninsular War. In 1822, the Brazilian War of Independence began, and the Brazilians overthrew Portuguese rule and founded the Empire of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro served as capital of both the empire and the republic until 1960, when the capital was transferred to Brasilia. Rio de Janeiro became known as a beach party town during the 1930s, but the city came to have 763 favela slums populated by the descendants of Brazilian slaves; by 2010, more than 1,500,000 people lived in the favelas, with 95% of them being poor. During the 2000s, favela violence caused by the narcotics trade led to Rio's "paradise" reputation being tarnished, and its crime rates skyrocketed. In 2015, Rio de Janeiro had a population of 6,688,930 people, and 12,280,702 people lived in its metro area.